NARHC-News | Spring 2018
RHC Articles in This Newsletter

2018 NARHC Fall Institute
Certified RHC Professional Training (CRHCP)
Shortage Designation Modernization Project
Nominations Sought: Ron Nelson Award
Calling All Nurses
New Medicare Card Project (Second Wave)
Telemedicine Trendy, but Are Docs Keeping Up?
Joint Replacement Surgery Costs Vary Greatly
CMS Announces 1st Rural Health Strategy
Common Deficiency in the RHC
Ransomware Attack: Are You Prepared?
2018 NARHC FALL INSTITUTE
Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe -- Oct. 23-25, 2018
A conference for & about RHCs!
Check out the Agenda...

• Washington Update • RHC Basics & Billing 101
• RHC Manager 101 • Cost Reports 101
• Chronic Care Management • RHC Buzz Words
• Emerging Compliance Issues • Emerging Cost Report Issues • Making RHCs Competitive w/ Retail Clinics • Emergency Preparedness
• Social Media & Marketing • RHC Adv. Billing
• Patient Quality & Engagement • Policy Manual for PBs & INDs • PB Status: Requirements, Compliance, Attestation • Unusual But Important Policies • Auto HPSAs & Shortage Designation
• Modernization Coding & Clinical Documentation
• Cybersecurity: What Every Employee Should Know • Making Every Min. Count: Cycle Time Studies • Annual Meeting Read More
Certified RHC Professional Course (CRHCP)

This ONLINE* COURSE will prepare you to successfully manage and run an RHC. Learn the latest information on RHC rules, regulations, and laws. Study nights, weekends, or whenever your schedule permits! The course has approximately 30 hours of material. No prerequisites! Coursework is broken into 4 modules with video presentations & a series of short knowledge-based tests needed each module. This course is designed to give you a well-rounded, ground level knowledge base of the major facets of RHC management. Read More

  • Module 1: Administration & Finance
  • Module 2: Billing & Coding
  • Module 3: Human Resources
  • Module 4: Regulatory Compliance & Quality
Shortage Designation Modernization Project:
 RECORDED WEBINAR AVAILABLE

A recording of the April 10 Technical Assistance Webinar for RHCs is now available online . The recorded presentation discusses Auto-HPSAs and the Shortage Designation Modernization Project, including:

  • A review of the scoring criteria used for Auto-HPSAs
  • Important milestones for the modernization project
  • The data sources that will be used for Auto-HPSA impact analyses Read More
NOMINATIONS SOUGHT : Ron Nelson Award

NARHC Members are invited to submit NOMINATIONS for a worthy recipient of the Ron Nelson Award. This award recognizes and honors an outstanding leader and promoter of Rural Health Clinics. Please nominate an individual who has dedicated their time and talent to advancing the health and well being of others through the RHC program. Persons doing the nominating are required to be NARHC members, however, award recipients do not have to be NARHC members. Read More
Calling All Nurses Working in Underserved and/or Rural Settings

We need your help! Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing invites all nurses and advanced practice nurses working in underserved and/or rural settings to respond to a survey examining the factors that influenced you to work in your current practice setting and what factors contribute to your continuing to work there.

This survey is part of a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant and will help us better understand how to prepare nursing students for potential roles in these areas. Your responses to this survey are confidential and will not be shared with other individuals. Aggregate results will be used to develop strategies for encouraging nursing students to seek careers in underserved and rural practice settings. Read More
New Medicare Card Project: CARD MAILING UPDATE

CMS started mailing new Medicare cards to those eligible for coverage with Medicare who live in Wave 2 states and territories: Alaska, American Samoa, California, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, and Oregon. CMS continues to mail new cards to people who live in Wave 1 states, as well as nationwide to people who are new to Medicare. 
 
On June 1, the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will mail the new RRB card to all people who get RRB benefits, nationwide. Read More
Telemedicine Trendy, but Are Doctors Keeping Up?

For years, doctors have been told to look at the patient - not the computer - when providing medical care. What we haven't been told is what to do when there's only a computer.

Telemedicine is perhaps the most rapidly evolving area in health care. About  15 million Americans receive some form of remote medical care every year. Investment in on-demand health-care services is estimated at $1 billion annually, according to  Accenture Consulting . Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest integrated delivery system, provides  more visits virtually  than it does in person. Read more
Joint Replacement Surgery Costs Vary Greatly Between Hospitals

A joint replacement surgery can cost as little as $5,000 or as much as $30,000 depending on the hospital, according to a new report. The  analysis , published Wednesday by Premier, found the cost of joint procedures vary significantly between hospitals because of differences in practice patterns and devices used. 

According to the analysis, the overall median cost of total joint replacement surgery is $14,520, but 50% of cases cost between $12,000 & $17,900. The cost data came from Premier's database of 1,100 hospitals. The analysis included roughly 283,000 patient discharges at 869 hospitals from Oct. 2015 to Mar. 2017.  Read More
CMS Announces Agency's First Rural Health Strategy
INTERAGENCY EFFORT TO IMPROVE ACCESS & QUALITY OF CARE FOR RURAL AMERICANS

On May 8, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the agency’s first Rural Health Strategy intended to provide a proactive approach on healthcare issues to ensure that the nearly one in five individuals who live in rural America have access to high quality, affordable healthcare.

“For the first time, CMS is organizing and focusing our efforts to apply a rural lens to the vision and work of the agency,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “The Rural Health Strategy supports CMS’ goal of putting patients first. Through its implementation and our continued stakeholder engagement, this strategy will enhance the positive impacts CMS policies have on beneficiaries who live in rural areas.”

The agency-wide Rural Health Strategy, built on input from rural providers and beneficiaries, focuses on five objectives to achieve the agency’s vision for rural health:

  • Apply a rural lens to CMS programs and policies
  • Improve access to care through provider engagement and support
  • Advance telehealth and telemedicine
  • Empower patients in rural communities to make decisions about their healthcare
  • Leverage partnerships to achieve the goals of the CMS Rural Health Strategy Read More
CONSULTANTS' CORNER

Common Deficiency in the RHC:
FAILURE TO CONDUCT 2ND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS EXERCISE ANNUALLY

The regulations at 42 CFR §491.12(d)(2) requires an Rural Health Clinic (RHC) to test its Emergency Preparedness plan by conducting two (2) exercises annually. The first exercise is a full-scale community-based exercise or when a community-based exercise is not available, an individual facility-based exercise. The second exercise can be a second full-scale exercise that is community-based or individual facility based OR a tabletop exercise that includes a group discussion led by a facilitator, using a narrated, clinically relevant emergency scenario and a set of problem statements, directed messages or prepared solutions designed to challenge an emergency plan.     Read More


Ransomware Attack: Are You Prepared?

Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that infects your information Systems and denies you access to your data by encrypting it, so you cannot access it. To obtain the decryption key, the cyber criminals demand a ransom payment. Cyber criminals have attacked all sizes of organizations from large to small so don’t make the mistake to think that a ransomware attack cannot occur to your organization.

On average, more than 4,000 ransomware attacks have occurred daily since January 1, 2016. The most common method cyber criminals deliver their malware to your organization is through emails & their attachments, or your staff downloading software from unknown websites. Let’s look at how you can prepare your organization against a ransomware attack from two perspectives; prevention & recovery. The following are recommendations & best practices provided by the United States Government.
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